Help Solve a 21st Century Canine Medical Mystery

17th October 2022

Special Cheery Wednesday Greetings to our Learning How to Learners!

Do You Love Animals? Help Solve a 21st-Century Canine Medical Mystery!

Today, Wednesday, October 19th, is giving day at the University of Wyoming, when matching funds will be available for a cause that is near and dear to Barb and her family’s heart: canine dysautonomia research. At the beginning of this year they lost their beloved Juniper “June Bug,” a 6-month-old rescue puppy to an awful disease that most have not heard of, but is increasing worldwide.

Canine dysautonomia, or CD, is a generally fatal disease of unknown cause found in certain parts of the Midwest and Western US states. It has also been found in the UK. The range appears to be spreading. The leading theory is that some unknown toxin in the soil, either bacterial or fungal in nature leads to degeneration of parts of the nervous system in some (particularly younger) dogs. Cases are often missed or not diagnosed until far into the disease course because initial symptoms are often vague and include severe vomiting and difficulty urinating/defecating. Classic symptoms that can aid in the diagnosis are protrusion of the third eyelid, dilated pupils, and decreased anal tone. Crusted nostrils and rapid weight loss are other symptoms that can occur. 

If caught early, there are some treatments that appear to be beneficial before aspiration pneumonia sets in, which is a frequent cause of death in this disease, including our triple P June Bug (Puppy Perfection Personified). 

Right now funds are desperately needed to help determine the cause of CD. If interested in donating on October 19th, when your donation can be boosted even further through matching please go to the following website:

Https://www.uwyo.edu/foundation/giving-day/matches-challenges/index.html

Then click on “Canine Dysautonomia Research.” The link will go live at 2:00  pm Eastern Time, October 19th (with matching for 24 hours!)

Donations can also be at any other time can be made by going to:

https://give.uwyo.edu/campaigns/24954/donations/new

and choosing: “Veterinary Sciences Canine Dysautonomia Research” as the “Giving Priorities.” Thank you from the bottom of our heart for any help you can give.  (We’ve given thousands of dollars.)

(Here’s a Canine Dysautonomia Facebook page if you also want to keep up on the latest research news.)

LearnTech Conference & Exhibition

Barb will be keynoting remotely at the LearnTech Conference & Exhibition, at 8:45 am Perth time, in Perth, Australia(natch!) on November 30th.  Barb’s presentation will be a special one that brings new insights to education from neuroscientific insights about how movies capture and hold our attention.  The awesome Dr. Steve Mackay, describing “Driving Awesome Outcomes with STEM in the Online World,” will be speaking right before Barb.

LearnTech will bring together leading thinkers and educators, and offer effective approaches to education for the modern economy. The event includes 10 expert speakers, an exhibition, product demonstrations and a panel discussion. More information can also be found on the LearnTech event page.

Retrieval practice—a perceptive review of an important paper

This excellent article by Megan Sumeracki of the Learning Scientists notes: “In the spirit of addressing true student learning and their ability to take what they have learned with them into new situations, today’s blog covers a paper by Robin Hopkins and colleagues (1). They asked whether spaced retrieval practice throughout a precalculus class would help engineering students learn precalculus and perform better on the precalculus course’ cumulative final exam, and whether spaced retrieval practice during precalculus would better prepare them for the following semester’s calculus class. 

Overall, what the results show is that yes, spaced retrieval practice during precalculus does lead to better performance in (1) precalculus and (2) on a cumulative final exam in the next semester’s calculus course many months later!

A great review of Mindshift

Here is a terrific view of Barb’s book Mindshift by the Nourished Executive. Key grafs: “This book is a gift and one to be returned to for continued inspiration. The continued theme of life long learning and making choices to invest in our learning, no matter what obstacles you are presented with continues throughout this book.

Mindshift takes us on a journey around the world with various case studies, highlighting ways a Mindshift was needed to propel forward, navigating great uncertainty. I really enjoyed how each chapter closes with questions and ideas to reflect on. There was a continued theme of the intersection of music with math and science.”

Lengthy Podcast for Parents with Lydia El Khouri and Barb

This extended interview (here’s Part 1, and here’s Part 2) contains some of the best questions Barb has ever been asked related to learning. Lydia El Khouri’s perceptive questioning brings out great insights related to learning that can be extraordinarily helpful for you as a parent.

The Fastest Way to Memorize ALL the BRITISH KINGS & QUEENS

Five-time US Memory Champion Nelson returns with a wonderful video where he teaches his wife how to easily memorize all the British Kings & Queens.  Hilarious!

Where in the World is Waldo Barb?

Barb will be speaking today (October 20th) in Bangkok, at The Backyard, 18th Fl. SCB Academy, SCB Park Plaza, East, with the event running 9:00 am through noon. 

She will  be in Kathmandu, Nepal October 26-November 2 (hosted by Tergar Oseling Monastery). Translation into Tibetan will also  be provided; contact Joseph.Faria@tergar.org. (Here is the livestream link at Tergar Oseling where we will be discussing learning, meditation, and neuroscience.)

Barb’s books are available at the Books Kinokuniya Tokyo–here she is with her Hero Husband Phil!

That’s all for this week. Have a happy week in Learning How to Learn!

Barb, Terry, and the entire Learning How to Learn team

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